Things Left Unsaid
by alyssialui
Summary: This is a drabble collection of prizes for people on my AtLA forum. Currently: A sick little bison gets a visitor in the night.
1. Chapter 1

Malu laughed as she hopped from stone to stone across the small stream that ran through the back of her family's section of the compound. She was a happy child, though the only one of her parents. Others may have thought she was lonely, she never spoke to the other children, but she would never think it that way. She anchored more towards her spirit friends than those of flesh and bone.

"Malu!" her mother cried as she pulled the paper sliding doors apart and rushed towards her.

The little girl spun, taking her mother's harried expression. Her long hair fell over her tattoos, strands freed from the elegant knot her mother had put it in before leaving home this morning.

"Mom?" Malu cried back. "What's-" she began to ask, but her mother didn't wait. She grabbed the little girl and ran across the stream, uncaring if the bottom of her robes were being soaked by the water.

"Stay here, darling," her mother finally said as she placed her in a cave a distance away from the compound.

"Mom, no, don't leave," the little girl, holding on tightly to her mother's skirts.

Her mother crouched down, gently prying her daughter's little fingers off. She placed a kiss on her forehead and said, "I'll be back. I promise."

Malu waited for years for her mother to return, reluctant to admit that she broke her promise.


	2. Chapter 2

Fire. It burned within his core more than he would have liked to admit.

He could stop whenever he wanted to and he never let the flames get out of control.

It was something of practice. He would create the flame, let it breathe, give it life and let it grow. Like a playful child who just happened to have destructive tendencies.

But he could stop whenever he wanted. He could put out the fire, end the life of what he created and no one would ever be the wiser. He would brush the aside, bury them or send them down the stream and the others wouldn't even realize.

_"What's that smell?", "What happened to my last shirt?", "Where did this black spot come from?"_

_"I don't know."_

But then one day, something happened. He set the fire, he gave it life, he let it grow. He manipulated the flames and watched them dance, feeling the heat within and without. This was never what they taught him grow up. He was not to use life to create life. He was respect all things living, plants and animals.

But fire was living. It breathe. It danced. It was life. So when he was to put the fire out, he didn't. He let it grow, and grow and grow. He could not kill what he had given life to.

So as he watched the forest on fire, and his friends running around madly trying to put it out, he did nothing. This was his baby and it needed to grow. There was nothing they could do really, for it had gotten too big.

Eventually, they rode out on Appa and left the blazing orange life behind. _Live, my love._

* * *

_A/N: So, I made Aang a pyromaniac :D. Fun stuff ensue._


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: The Mechanist toils late in the night. The Mechanist/Teo father-son fic. Teo is probably five or six here. Uses crutches in the night because it's easier._

_Disclaimer: I do not own AtLA._

* * *

It was late in the night as he poured over the blueprints and schematics, his skin bathed in a sickly orange glow from the lone candle on the table. A nearby window was open, letting the cool night air kiss his uncomfortably warm skin.

_**Pop!** _One in the morning.

He groaned, putting his head in his hands. How was he supposed to get all these plans drawn up before the General showed up in the morning? But he had to do it. If he didn't he would be endangering everyone on the compound, his inventions and designs would go up in flames, and his son...

"Dad," a tiny voice called from the the door.

He looked up to see his son, dressed in his tiny night shirt, and rubbing sleep out of his eyes. The little boy gave his father a sleepy smile as he hobbled over to him on his crutches.

He leaned over his chair and put the little boy on his lap when he was close enough. With a soft kiss on his forehead, he asked, "What are you doing up? I put you to bed hours ago."

"I couldn't sleep," the little boy said, looking down at his dangling feet. Then he turned to the table, his eyes running over the drawings and numbers he couldn't yet read well. "What are these?" he asked curiously.

He chuckled and said shortly, "New inventions." He couldn't tell his son the truth, that these inventions were meant to kill and destroy families and towns. He was too young, he wouldn't understand. He would think him a monster.

The little boy's eyes lit up, "Can I help?" he asked.

His father shook his head and said, "No, but I think you should be getting back to bed." He rose from the chair with the little boy in his arms and grabbed the crutches to tuck the boy back into bed.

When he returned, he looked back at the drawings with a weary eye. He wished he could just go into his own bed and get some sleep, but he couldn't. He had to keep working though, he had to finish these designs, to keep his little boy safe.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Azula, Ty Lee and Mai visit the Winter festival. This is a prize fic for Seraina who wanted some sort of Winter festival. I hope you like it. Azula, Mai and Ty Lee are all about eight or nine here._

_Disclaimer: I do not own AtLA._

* * *

Azula scowled as she walked beside a gloomy-looking Mai through the festival. The brightly coloured lights were giving her a headache but she couldn't head home yet. She had just left the palace at her mother's insistence and it would look odd if she returned within the hour.

"Isn't it just magical here?" Ty Lee practically screamed in her right ear as she ran back to her two best friends after stopping to look at a stall of stuffed animals.

Mai looked around lazily and then said, "Absolutely."

Ty Lee frowned at the uninterested girl before turning to Azula and asking, "What game do you want to try first?"

"Try?" Azula asked. "You mean win." Then looked about the festival and pointed to stall that had an array of bottles stacked against the back wall. "That one."

Ty Lee screamed again, before grabbing Azula and Mai's hands and pulling them forward.

"Three balls, two yuans," the operator called out above the small crowd as they neared. "Knock them all down and get a prize. Knock them down on the first try and get the large stuffed dragon."

The girls each paid their yuans and Ty Lee stepped up first. The operator looked at her and said, "Don't feel bad if you don't get it the first time."

"I won't," she said simply before she focused on the short pyramid. She took a deep breath before she bent low, swinging the hand with the ball and her leg like a windmill before throwing it right in the centre of the pyramid and knocking them over.

"Winner!" the operator called out after he had recovered from his initial shock and pulled down a red stuffed dragon for the excitable girl.

Mai then stepped up. She narrowed her eyes and then threw the ball, knocking the pyramid down effortlessly. The man just frowned before handing her a white stuffed dragon.

"If you guys can do it, this will be easy," Azula said as she stepped up.

Azula took a deep breath and threw it, just as she had seen Ty Lee and Mai do, but it hit the back wall to the right of the pyramid.

The operator grinned before saying, "Two more tries, little girl."

Azula scowled. She was usually so good at this sort of thing. What was happening?

She tried again, but when she threw the ball, her arm slipped and the ball fell short before the pyramid.

"One more!"

Azula growled. She could do this!

She threw it now, almost falling from the exertion, but it only hit the top bottle.

"Sorry, girl. Gotta knock 'em all down to win something," the operator said, then cried out. "Who's next!"

"Don't worry, Azula," Ty Lee said as she came up behind the fumin girl. "You can have mine."

"No!" Azula screamed. Then she turned to the operator, "If I can knock all those bottles down on my next try, then you will give me a dragon."

The operator gave her an unimpressed look and said, "Sure, kid. Go right ahead. I won't even charge you."

Azula grinned before she turned back to wall, facing the three separate pyramids of bottles. She took a deep breath before she aimed three jets of fire at the pyramids, one from each hand and one from her mouth. The pyramids fell easily from the attack, but some of the flames also touched the canopy of the stall.

But Azula no longer cared. She turned to the operator and dragged him down to her level. "One stuffed dragon please," she said simply.

The three girls walked away from the stall with the intent of heading home now. Azula had had enough of the Winter festival.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Azula thinks about Ty Lee. Tyzula. Prize for Albedineity. Prompt: alcohol._

_Disclaimer: I do not own AtLA._

* * *

Ty Lee hiccuped before resting her head on Azula's shoulder. After they had passed around one of her father's aged wine bottles, it was obvious that the smaller girl could not handle her liquor well. She however had lasted longer than Mai who was now passed out on the opposite couch, her mouth open in a rather unladylike manner.

Her soft snores met Azula's ears and she didn't have the heart to push her off. She had always had a soft spot for her, ever since they were kids. She was so pure and innocent and she needed Azula around to protect from the evils of the world.

However, Azula never understood how after all these years, Ty Lee was still this way. To be so happy and carefree all the time seemed exhausting but Ty Lee never seemed to tire. She was an overflowing bowl of energy and she always tried to influence her and Mai. A few times she was successful if the increased amount of talking from the moody girl and the odd smile that graced her own face was any consolation.

But now she was sleeping, like a little angel, her face smooth and relaxed and her bright brown eyes closed. Azula would never tell her just how much she was grateful for her presence. She leaned over and placed a small kiss on her forehead before catching herself.

What was she doing? She shook her head and took another swig from the bottle. She needed more liquor to drown these cursed feelings.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Azula and Aang are at the beach. short fluffy Azulaang drabble. Since it's a drabble, there isn't any backstory as to why they're on a beach but I just love Azulaang fluff._

_Disclaimer: I do not own AtLA._

* * *

"You're blocking my sun," the young woman said, bringing her hand up as she opened one golden eye to look up at the person who had disturbed her time lying in the sun.

"I'm sorry, Fire Princess," the young man said, fixing her a lopsided grin as he bent down and handed her the cool drink she requested.

"I don't go by that title anymore, Avatar," the young woman said, placing her red-lined lips on the edge of the glass, unable to hold back a satisfied sound as the ice cold liquid slipped down her throat. "That life is long gone."

The young man took his space next to her on the beach blanket. He reached over to tuck one of the long strands blocking her face behind her ear and place a quick kiss to her cheek. "You will always be a Fire Princess to me, Azula."


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: This is a prize story for someone on the **Battleship Challenge. **I hope you like it, Pandaemic.  
_

_Disclaimer: I do not own AtLA._

* * *

The little bison shivered, tucking his legs even further under his body for warmth. The rain came down in slanted sheets, chilling the air in the small hut the humans had made for him to sleep. How he wished he was back with his brothers and sisters, but the humans had separated him from the others. They said he was sick, and would hurt his brothers and sisters. He would never do that, he tried to tell them, but they didn't understand (they never did). And though they told him he could join them soon, he wanted to be with them now.

Then there was a sudden noise in the darkness. The little bison opened his eyes to see a shadow silhoutted against the grey, rainy sky beyond.

"Appa?" he heard the shadow whisper.

The bison got slowly to his feet as the shadow grew closer. He sniffed the air, inhaling the familiar scent of the little boy before he sneezed.

"Awww, they told me you were sick, Appa," the boy said, "But I had to see you to make sure." He used the edge of his clothes to wipe the bison's nose before he smiled at job well done.

The bison looked into the boy's large eyes, eyes almost as big as his own, before the wind began to blow, sending another shiver through his body.

"Oh you're cold," the boy said. "Good thing I brought this," he added, bringing out a large cloth. He threw it over the little bison before he nestled into his side. "I'll keep you warm tonight, Appa."

And there the little boy and the little bison slept as the storm raged outside the hut.


End file.
